Legend Management Bureau Chapter 70

[ … words ]

“Then it is settled, we will split up and take action.” Goddess Houtu looked at Du Yu and said, “Don’t worry, kid. They will bring this girl back safely.”

Du Yu remained silent. He wasn’t worried about Dong Qianqiu’s safety; he was just afraid that she would be sad.

“The Tech Department must immediately locate which legend is experiencing issues. The Operations Department needs to print out the various versions of the legend right away. This time, the investigation team will be led by Little Jin, and Little Qi will act as the Voice Transmitter. Move out immediately.” Dong Qianqiu entered her work mode in a single second, directing everyone methodically. She acted as if nothing had happened, her tone flat and her thoughts clear, but her eyes remained red.

“Assistant Dong, why don’t you stay behind?” Xie Bi’an scratched his head and smiled. “The few of us going is enough. In terms of combat, we have Ksitigarbha and Second Brother. In terms of brains, Big Brother and I are here. Nothing should go wrong, so just stay here with peace of mind and help out little Du.”

“No,” Dong Qianqiu shook her head. “This is a matter for the Legend Administration, after all. Reasonably speaking, at least one of us has to make an appearance. I have known the Director the longest and I am the most senior employee here. Thinking about it this way, it is most appropriate for me to go.”

Seeing Dong Qianqiu put it this way, everyone couldn’t bear to persuade her otherwise and could only handle things this way for now.

Watching the large group march out the door, the Legend Administration suddenly felt deserted. Only the red warning light continued to blare.

For some unknown reason, Du Yu had an ominous premonition. But on second thought, there were many experts in that group, so he believed there wouldn’t be any major problems.

“There is no use overthinking it. Let us get moving too.” Du Yu turned and spoke to Little Qi. However, just as he finished his sentence, his legs suddenly went soft, and he nearly lost his footing.

“Strange… what is wrong with me?” Du Yu felt as though his body had been drained of strength.

“Du Yu, has it been a long time since you last rested?” Little Qi asked.

Du Yu thought about it, and it really was true. Ever since the day Dong Qianqiu was taken away by the demon, he hadn’t rested at all. First, he fought the demon and suffered some injuries. Then, he immediately rushed into Cui Jue’s legend, spending three whole days without sleep or rest to complete it. Right after that, he helped Yingning find a vessel, went to see Goddess Houtu, and investigated the entire matter. In the middle of all that, he even had a fight with Zhong Kui, nearly having his soul scattered.

Now, all the exhaustion and pain in his body were slowly surfacing. It didn’t feel good.

But there was no time to wait anymore.

“I am fine, let us hurry up and prepare.” Du Yu shook his trembling arm to clear his head. “We need to finish this legend quickly; I still have to go help Sister Qianqiu and the others…”

Little Qi didn’t understand what was going on with the man in front of her. Why didn’t he ever slack off?

Why would he risk his life so desperately for people he had only known for a short month, or even just a few days?

She herself had worked at the Legend Administration for over a hundred years, and the majority of her time was spent slacking off. She had never imagined that there could be someone this earnest in the world.

However, upon further thought, Little Qi realized that being cared for and protected by such a person was truly a comforting thing.

“The information is out…” Little Jin ran over holding a stack of documents. “But the situation this time is rather special.”

“A Grade A mission was never going to be easy anyway,” Du Yu said. “Come on, let us hold our prep meeting.”

Du Yu, Little Qi, and Little Jin sat down at the round table again, and Little Jin slowly began to explain.

“Generally speaking, the difficulty of legends is divided into Grade D, Grade C, Grade B, Grade A, and Super Grade A. But sometimes there are special circumstances, like this time…”

“The difficulty this time is very special?” Du Yu asked.

“Yes, this time it is a rather rare Mist Class. Such cases have only appeared four times in the past. Since the founding of the Legend Administration, this is the fifth time a Mist Class has appeared.”

“Then… what exactly is a Mist Class?”

“The so-called Mist Class means that although the Legend Administration’s equipment has recorded this legend, the footage is intermittent. Some parts are always filled with fog and cannot be seen clearly. Because of this, it is basically impossible to determine the operational difficulty of this legend, so the difficulty is directly set as Mist Class. However, there is no need to worry too much. Sometimes, what is hidden in the mist might just be a Grade D legend…”

“Let us not make such beautiful assumptions,” Du Yu sighed. “The Legend Administration’s red warning lights are flashing. No matter how you look at it, this has to be a Grade A or Super Grade A mission, right?”

“Yes…” Little Jin flipped through the documents in his hands. “The difficulty of the legend this time is definitely not low. Even if it is Grade B, the operational difficulty will surpass that of Hou Yi shooting down the nine suns.”

“Oh? Why is that?”

“Because we have absolutely no idea where the problem in the legend occurred. The problematic scenes are likely hidden in the mist and cannot be seen clearly at all, so you will have to grope your way through. Similarly, the Voice Transmitter’s ability to interfere will be extremely limited. Although you can communicate via voice transmission, in many situations, Little Qi won’t be able to see your screen.”

Du Yu nodded slightly. Putting it that way, it was indeed a bit tricky. He pondered for a moment before asking, “Then which legend am I entering this time?”

“It is the legend of the Jade Emperor.”

“The Jade Emperor…” Du Yu was startled. “Isn’t that tied to the legend of the Great Emperor of Mount Tai? We were just resolving this matter, and immediately after, a problem appears in the legend. Is it really such a coincidence?”

“Yes…” Little Jin nodded at Du Yu. “It seems you also know about the relationship between the Jade Emperor and the Great Emperor of Mount Tai. That makes it much easier to explain. It is just… it is still unclear whether the problem in the legend is related to this assassination attempt in reality. You just have to be extra careful with everything.”

Du Yu rubbed his face to clear his mind and said, “Alright, I understand… Simply put, we still don’t know what went wrong with this legend, but our goal is the same, and that is to complete it.”

“Mhm!” Little Jin nodded, then turned to Little Qi. “Little Qi, tell Du Yu about the original plot of the legend. As long as we can eventually complete this plot, our real world won’t be too heavily impacted.”

Little Qi nodded and said softly, “The legend of the Jade Emperor, also known as the Haotian God, has always been rather mysterious. If you had searched online when you were alive, you would find that many people have absolutely no idea how he came to be. As for what he experienced and why he became the Lord of the Heavenly Court, although there are a few mainstream theories, they are all quite far-fetched. The reason the Jade Emperor’s origins are so mysterious is due to the characteristics of the Mist Class. In other words, how could mortals understand something that even the Legend Administration can’t see clearly?”

“So that is how it is…”

“According to the few scenes the Legend Administration can currently view, the Jade Emperor’s name was Zhang Youren, and he officially ascended to the throne during the time of Jiang Ziya’s Investiture of the Gods. At that time, Jiang Ziya had appointed three hundred and sixty-five orthodox deities, but he delayed filling the position of the Lord of All Gods. He was a bit selfish and wanted to save that position for himself. The immortals couldn’t help but ask who the Lord of All Gods would be. Jiang Ziya just smiled faintly and said, ‘Naturally, someone will do it.’ As soon as he spoke, Zhang Youren, whose name sounded exactly like the word for ‘someone’, suddenly knelt in gratitude and said, ‘Youren thanks the Lord of Investiture,’ and directly sat upon that imperial throne. But Zhang Youren had very little merit and originally couldn’t even be appointed as a loose immortal. Now, in front of everyone, he was appointed as the Jade Emperor by Jiang Ziya. Since Jiang Ziya couldn’t go back on his word in front of all the gods, he could only swallow this bitter pill. From then on, Zhang Youren became the Jade Emperor.”

“Sister Qi… are you sure you aren’t telling me a joke?” Du Yu felt very depressed after hearing this. “Puns aren’t even funny.”

“I am not joking, this is a real legend,” Little Qi said with a serious face. “It is recorded in many historical texts and documents.”

“But this…” Du Yu shook his head. “This is too absurd…”

“Of course, these are only the scenes we can see. There is actually a lot of mist interspersed in between. We have absolutely no way of knowing what specifically happened. We only know the general process and the final result.”

“Alright then, I just need to go in and make Zhang Youren the Jade Emperor, right?”

“It is not that simple. If it were just that, this legend would absolutely never reach Grade A difficulty.”

“Oh, right! There is also the whole mess with the Great Emperor of Mount Tai!” Du Yu suddenly realized.

“Yes. Shortly after Zhang Youren became the Jade Emperor, he rode the Jade Dragon Horse down to the mortal realm to play. As a result, his mount was stolen by a man who looked remarkably like him, and this man took over the title of Jade Emperor. This person was named Zhang Jian. Because Zhang Youren had just been appointed as a god, his magical powers were not high, and he couldn’t fly back to the Heavenly Court himself. He could only spend his days atop Mount Tai shouting towards the heavens. To placate Zhang Youren, Zhang Jian directly enfeoffed the Mount Tai beneath his feet to him. Beneath Mount Tai is the famous Eighteen Levels of Hell. This move essentially put Zhang Youren in charge of half the Underworld, making him the Great Emperor of Mount Tai.”

“Sigh…” Du Yu couldn’t help but feel that there was an indescribable problem with this legend of the Jade Emperor. It sounded exactly like something an old person in the family had made up on the spot to trick a child. “Sister Qi, this story was also seen through the mist, right?”

“Yes,” Little Qi said softly. “The hidden details in between are unknown, but this is the direction of the plot.”

Little Jin also chimed in from the side, “Du Yu, don’t overthink it. As long as you complete these known plot points, the legend will get back on track.”

“Alright, I understand.”

Du Yu nodded and let out a long breath. He was very tired right now, but he couldn’t sleep just yet. At the very least, he had to complete this legend.